Absorbents garments are used extensively, by infants during toilet training, and by incontinent adults, to protect clothes from soiling. Absorbent garments are relatively effective in protecting the wearer's clothing as long as the amount of urine or other bodily waste contacting the garment does not exceed its absorbent capacity. However, a large insult of urine, or the occurrence of multiple insults between garment changings, can result in leakage of bodily exudates out of the sides of the garment, and into the wearer's clothing.
One attempt to avoid the leakage problem has been to add a removable, disposable insert into the outer absorbent garment. Such an insert supplements the absorbency of the outer absorbent garment. Furthermore, as a secondary advantage, an insert can gather relatively small insults of urine without soiling the outer absorbent garment. After the occurrence of a small insult, sometimes only the insert needs to be replaced, rather than the entire outer absorbent garment. Therefore, this strategy reduces not only the occurrence of leakage, but also the frequency of the need to clean or dispose of the outer absorbent garment, thereby reducing the cost to consumers.
A problem with the prior absorbent inserts is that they have typically been made with a fluid impermeable garment-facing surface. While the use of a fluid impermeable garment-facing surface prevents fluids from contacting the outer absorbent garment during small insults, it is counterproductive after a large insult of urine. Larger insults can force the urine to seep around the sides of the insert after the insert has been filled to its absorbent capacity, which can also lead to leakage from the outer absorbent garment. Because an infant or an incontinent adult typically has no control of whether he or she will experience a small or large insult of urine at a particular time, such inserts generally have not been successful. In contrast, an absorbent insert made with a fluid permeable garment-facing surface would typically allow fluid to contact the garment even during small insults, thereby eliminating the secondary advantage of using such an insert.
One particular prior absorbent insert, disclosed in European Patent Application 945,110, attempts to deal with this problem by providing an insert having an apertured garment-facing backsheet, which has its apertures covered by a liquid-impermeable covering sheet. The covering sheet is removably adhered to the outside of the backsheet, allowing the user to remove the covering sheet to allow the urine to pass through to an outer absorbent garment. The European Patent disclosure proposes that the insert may be worn without the impermeable covering sheet when the user is unable to frequently change the insert, such as during periods of sleep. In contrast, the insert may be used with the covering sheet when the user is able to frequently change the insert, such as during the day. However, because a user may experience a large insult even during the day, or may not know in advance whether he or she will have a convenient opportunity to change the insert, the strategy presented by the European Patent disclosure is largely ineffective.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for improved absorbent inserts for use with absorbent garments.